While educators say blends of traditional and virtual learning are ideal, all-virtual classes could create an opening for strapped states to save money by slashing the ranks of teachers they employ in traditional classrooms. “If the same virtual lesson recorded in Seattle can educate 8,000 kids in Ohio, how many teachers might not be needed that Ohio has historically employed?” Finn asks.

Taylor, of the teachers’ union, is concerned about budget cuts with the coming changes in Ohio. “There may be a few districts that are financially strapped in this climate who may see [credit flexibility] as a chance to see budget slashing, but if they do, obviously it’s going to be done to the detriment of effective student learning,” she warns. On the contrary, she thinks districts should hire more teachers, with some taking on more supervisory and advisory roles in overseeing credit-flexibility experiences. “If a teacher has 125 students in a day, it’s not going to be feasible for [him] to help to design and work with each and every student,” she says.

For the rest of the article, go to States Experiment With Out-of-Classroom Learning